4 ms·

Unsolicited or unexpected phone calls are annoying, but this guy has an anxiety disorder and should probably attend CBT or psychotherapy as it is obviously sign

Unsolicited or unexpected phone calls are annoying, but this guy has an anxiety disorder and should probably attend CBT or psychotherapy as it is obviously significantly impacting his life in a negative way. Also, text is not always a the best way of communicating- a lot of information is conveyed in someone’s voice which is often difficult to put on paper. It can also be way faster to speak to someone, particularly where a problem is a little complex and requires information to be exchanged between both parties multiple times.

edflsafoiewq 9y ago
The lack of information in voice is sometimes a boon. If I am annoyed, I can nevertheless always write perfectly politely, but I cannot always keep the annoyance out of my voice.
- ihale 9y ago
  I agree. I loathe telephones, I also dislike speaking in public, and to people. None the less, I find the inflection, tone, rate of speech all add to meaningful communication. I hate my own voice, so I dislike speaking, but if I find comfort with whom I am speaking, I find it pleasurable, and perhaps more informative than else. It is the human level of it.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- reificator 9y ago
  Most of the time I'm with you, but it works both ways. I accidentally started a fight on HN by typing the exact opposite of my views, or at least something that could apparently be interpreted that way. I don't think I would have been misunderstood in the same manner in speech. In speech your voice determines your tone. In text your reader determines your tone.
Tharkun 9y ago
Have you considered not diagnosing mental illnesses in HN comments? Let alone offering "treatment advice" on a case you know nothing about, without having spoken to the person in question?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- monk_e_boy 9y ago
  He spent the best part of a day compiling a spreadsheet of possible answers to a conversation, the wrote a lengthy blog post telling us about it. That is not normal.
  - kyberias 9y ago
    Quit categorizing people into normal and not normal. It's not normal.
    - albertgoeswoof 9y ago
      It’s not healthy would be a better assessment
    - skinnymuch 9y ago
      That's actually pretty damn "normal". A shame. But pretty "normal"/common.
      - kyberias 9y ago
        I have to agree. But I couldn't help myself.
    - monk_e_boy 9y ago
      Sure it's normal for people to make an assessment on other people. Some of those people fall outside the bell curve. The middle of the bell curve for a particular trait (e.g. talking on the telephone) is normal - so about 90% of the population. You want to redefine the word normal. OK, sure. What should I use? Different? Strange? Unique? Flower? Snowflake? I don't know. Sounds pretty odd behaviour to me. Not wrong, not bad, not dirty. Just weird. Odd. Not normal.
dang 9y ago
Internet psychiatric diagnosis is not ok in HN comments. As a trope it is perhaps second only to you're-the-shill-no-you're-the-shill in the degradation it causes to discussion. And consider that the author posted this, so you're talking about someone in the room. I'm sure you didn't mean it that way, but it's still something we all need to have the discipline and good taste to avoid. If we have to we'll add it to https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html, but I'd rather avoid having a laundry list of verbotens.
- DanBC 9y ago
  It seems a shame that someone with a very treatable mental health problem should continue to suffer a limited life just because we're all too polite to say "have you thought about CBT?" I do wonder what you'd say if someone described a physical health problem and people suggested they go see a physical health doctor.
  - dang 9y ago
    You're making a series of assumptions here: that the problem can be accurately assessed this way, that the commenter is qualified to do so, that a message board comment is a suitable medium for such a message, and that the noise of this being an internet argument trope wouldn't drown out the signal of human concern. That's a lot of slack to cut "this guy has an anxiety disorder".

edflsafoiewq 9y ago

The lack of information in voice is sometimes a boon. If I am annoyed, I can nevertheless always write perfectly politely, but I cannot always keep the annoyance out of my voice.

ihale 9y ago
I agree. I loathe telephones, I also dislike speaking in public, and to people. None the less, I find the inflection, tone, rate of speech all add to meaningful communication. I hate my own voice, so I dislike speaking, but if I find comfort with whom I am speaking, I find it pleasurable, and perhaps more informative than else. It is the human level of it.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
reificator 9y ago
Most of the time I'm with you, but it works both ways. I accidentally started a fight on HN by typing the exact opposite of my views, or at least something that could apparently be interpreted that way. I don't think I would have been misunderstood in the same manner in speech. In speech your voice determines your tone. In text your reader determines your tone.

Tharkun 9y ago

Have you considered not diagnosing mental illnesses in HN comments? Let alone offering "treatment advice" on a case you know nothing about, without having spoken to the person in question?

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
monk_e_boy 9y ago
He spent the best part of a day compiling a spreadsheet of possible answers to a conversation, the wrote a lengthy blog post telling us about it. That is not normal.
- kyberias 9y ago
  Quit categorizing people into normal and not normal. It's not normal.
  - albertgoeswoof 9y ago
    It’s not healthy would be a better assessment
  - skinnymuch 9y ago
    That's actually pretty damn "normal". A shame. But pretty "normal"/common.
    - kyberias 9y ago
      I have to agree. But I couldn't help myself.
  - monk_e_boy 9y ago
    Sure it's normal for people to make an assessment on other people. Some of those people fall outside the bell curve. The middle of the bell curve for a particular trait (e.g. talking on the telephone) is normal - so about 90% of the population. You want to redefine the word normal. OK, sure. What should I use? Different? Strange? Unique? Flower? Snowflake? I don't know. Sounds pretty odd behaviour to me. Not wrong, not bad, not dirty. Just weird. Odd. Not normal.

dang 9y ago

Internet psychiatric diagnosis is not ok in HN comments. As a trope it is perhaps second only to you're-the-shill-no-you're-the-shill in the degradation it causes to discussion. And consider that the author posted this, so you're talking about someone in the room. I'm sure you didn't mean it that way, but it's still something we all need to have the discipline and good taste to avoid. If we have to we'll add it to https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html, but I'd rather avoid having a laundry list of verbotens.

DanBC 9y ago
It seems a shame that someone with a very treatable mental health problem should continue to suffer a limited life just because we're all too polite to say "have you thought about CBT?" I do wonder what you'd say if someone described a physical health problem and people suggested they go see a physical health doctor.
- dang 9y ago
  You're making a series of assumptions here: that the problem can be accurately assessed this way, that the commenter is qualified to do so, that a message board comment is a suitable medium for such a message, and that the noise of this being an internet argument trope wouldn't drown out the signal of human concern. That's a lot of slack to cut "this guy has an anxiety disorder".